//------------------------------// // Ponyville and old friends // Story: Pony heart, Dragon blood, body of Metal // by The-DerpSide //------------------------------// Two chapters in one day...don't get used to this...my muse is really going right now...though the chapter title DID go through many changes! The next morning Celestia's sun shone brightly as it rose in the sky. Spike's red eye flared to life seconds before his right one opened. Shaking his head, he went to open the window, only to pause when he saw his reflection. The blue of his metal was a stark contrast to his purple scales, but they did not clash, but the two colors seemed to "combine"...no doubt that Metal Sonic would have made him mostly blue like it was itself. "This is so disorientating. Through my right eye...my original eye...I can see everything the color it is supposed to be...but me left eye has almost everything in a shade of red." Spike said, glaring at his reflection. It glared back and Spike almost shivered at the glowing, red, eye shining back at him. "Metal Sonic...." Spike whispered, as he remembered the emotionless eyes looking down upon him. "Why can't you accept that YOU are Sonic's copy....why did you decide to become a conqueror?" "Question of the century." A familiar voice said from behind him, and Spike turned to look at Shadow. "You could tell Metal Sonic to his face that he was Sonic's copy and all that he would say is that your statement held no logic. Metal Sonic has been outraced by Sonic, and yet he does not learn. Yet when it comes to battle and diabolical plans, he is a genius." "It is illogical!" Spike said, eyes widening when he realized what came out of his mouth, "Err....I mean it does not make sense! One would think he'd learn by now!" "I know what you mean" Shadow said, walking over to look at the rising sun. After a few seconds he closed his eyes. "I used to wonder what it was like on the surface of my planet. I spent the beginning years after my creation locked on board the space colony floating above it. I would watch the world below with the Professor's granddaughter-my only friend-Maria and ponder why I was created. What my purpose was. What it was like on the planet below. A few years later I discovered just how cruel life could be when everything I knew was taken away from me." Spike pondered those words before Shadow reopened his eyes and looked at Spike. "You are like me." "What?" Spike asked. "We did not deserve what happened to us, and yet it did. The only thing left for you to do is move on." Shadow said, before walking out of the room, leaving Spike to ponder those words. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Sonic yawned loudly as he stretched before hopping out of bed and pulling his clothes on-including his gloves and shoes. He glanced at the rising sun and smiled. "Well well, looks like its another good day. Hope it doesn't get to boring." Walking out of the room, he saw Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo already at the table eating some kind of breakfast. "Morning!" Sonic greeted, "It seems today's gonna be way past beautiful!" "Morning....dad..." Scootaloo hesitantly greeted and Sonic smiled before ruffling her hair slightly. "Oh come on! You don't have to be so hesitant around me! By the way, how are your wings?" He asked and Scootaloo unfolded her wings, which now looked slightly bigger. "Are you sure you're not part-unicorn? Because only a unicorn could pull of magic like that. I can even hover a little bit now...but it tires me out quickly." The filly said and Sonic smiled slightly. "You get tired quickly because your muscles in your wings are not used to being worked." Sonic said, sitting at the table and grabbing a little breakfast himself. "My friends and I are going to meet today and I was wondering..." Scootaloo asked. Rainbow Dash said nothing, this was a bonding time and she knew it. "You want me to meet with your friends?" Sonic asked, a small smirk on his face. "Yes!" "Well then, I don't have anything else planned. I can go as soon as you're ready." Sonic said, and the little filly rushed off to pack. "Ah...I remember when I was that naive." He said, taking a bite of his breakfast. "Don't you mean young?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Heh. You're only as old as you feel!" Sonic said. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "So where was the last place you spotted this thing?" A male griffin holding an axe said to a female one. The female was once Rainbow Dash's best friend-Gilda. "It was over here somewhere." She replied, "Now normally I wouldn't bother with pony issues but this thing has a big price on its head." "You should have been afraid." A metallic voice called from the shadows. "Now you will face the might of the Metal Empire!" Without warning, the two griffins found themselves surrounded. There were ten yellow robots shaped like scorpions with a spiked metal ball on the tip of its tail (Skorp). There were twenty red ladybug-like robots with sharp yellow claws on the front balancing on a single wheel with a rocket booster on each side (Moto bug). There were twenty wasp-like robots with red heads, black bodies, and yellow and black striped abdomens with a laser blaster on it. They were propelled by two rocket engines (Buzzer). As the robots bombarded the two griffins, they found themslves unable to counteract the numbers. The Skorps extended their tails, using the spike ball to slam into their foes. The Moto bugs moved quickly at 100 miles per hour, slicing at them with their claws while the Buzzers fired and struck at them with their lasers. Gilda managed to fly up-though badly injured and fly off. She never noticed the gleaming red eyes as Metal Sonic emerged from the forest to stop in front of the other griffin-who could barely move. "This adventure for you will end in agony." It said, raising its clawed hand. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Spike wandered around town-having been given the day off by Twilight to "readjust". He could hear every whisper, see all the uncomfortable looks, he felt disgusted with himself for having surrendered to Metal Sonic so easily in Canterlot...but if he hadn't everyone he knew and loved would have been killed. It was tough to cope, knowing that you surrendered to an enemy to save lives-yet if their plan was successful YOU would have been used to kill the very same ponies you saved. "Watch out!" A filly's voice yelled, and Spike jumped out of the way to see the Sweetie Bell buzz past in a red biplane-the plane flying high into the air. "She is so in trouble when Rarity finds out" Sonic said, tapping his foot with Tails looking anxious. "What is that?" Spike asked. "That is my biplane-the Tornado. Tails is the one who usually flies it." Sonic explained, " The 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'-as Scootaloo and her friends call themselves-said something about 'cutie marks' and then...Sweetie Bell spotted the Tornado when my back was turned while we visited Tails and Fluttershy. We only knew when Scootaloo shouted for her to stop!" "We need to get her down-but only Sonic and I know how to fly the Tornado! Sonic can't fly and I can't gain enough momentum flying to catch up quick enough." Tails said, looking at Spike. "Wait a minute....Spike, listen to my instructions carefully!" "THIS IS SO AMAZING!" Sweetie Bell yelled from inside the cockpit the Tornado, the town quickly becoming a speck on the ground. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PLANE FLIERS GO!" She yelled, before realizing her two friends were still on the ground-the noise from the propeller had drowned out their shouting. As she pulled on a lever to turn around, the plane flipped outside down and once it was too late did Sweetie Bell realize another problem. She had not put on the safety harness. Screaming as she fell, she fully expected to die the worst possible way-without a cutie mark! So when she suddenly felt herself going higher into the air she hesitantly opened her eyes, only to see Spike with his wings unfurled, a blast of purple flames from the turbine on his back lifting them into the air. Grabbing onto the cockpit of the Tornado with his metal hand, he swung them around and harnessed both of them in. "Thank you Tails for the crash-course in flying the Tornado...though I do hope it is not literal." He said. Grasping the lever with his hands, he pulled and flipped the plane back up to its proper position and gently pushed the plane down to land in town-lowering the landing gear as he did so. A few ponies had to scurry out of the way, but the Tornado did land safely in the middle of town, before being shut off. "SWEETIE BELL! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT MESSING WITH THINGS THAT DON'T BELONG TO YOU! YOU ALMOST DIED!" Rarity's shout cut through the cheering crowd. "Oh horse-apples...." Sweetie muttered under her breath as they climbed out of the Tornado and Tails went over to inspect it. As Sweetie Bell tried to slink off through the crowd. However, she was cut off when a hand grasped her left arm and she turned to see her big sister with a positively livid expression on her face. "Hi Rarity." She said quietly, but was cut off with a glare. "You are in so much trouble, young lady!" She said, before turning to Spike. "Oh thank you so much for saving my little sister Spike." She said. "It's no big deal. I'm sure a pegasus would have helped if I had not been able to." Spike said, he could put his condition to good use! Then, his head suddenly jerked upwards. "There's someone coming!" With that shout, Spike leaped backwards as another living being crashed into the ground-just in time for Rainbow Dash to arrive. "Gilda?!" She shouted, running over to her former friend. She did not look good, with holes, scratches and scorch marks all across her. The female griffin slowly opened her eyes and weakly asked "Rainbow...Dash?" "What happened to you?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking over Gilda's injured form. "Metal....Empire....ambushed..." She said before passing out. "Metal Empire? No! It must have been Metal Sonic!" Sonic said, "Quick! Get her to a hospital!" ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The Buzzers, Skorps, and Moto bugs all were lined up, along with sixteen purplish-pink robots with wheels and sharp claws on the front-sharp spikes covering the back of it (Spikes), 100 Egg Pawns, twenty of what looked like red bombs with legs and grey helmets (Bomb), twenty floating yellow seahorse-shaped robots (Aquis), ten green praying mantis-like robots with sharp green claws (Slicer), twenty almost octopus-like robots with small arms on the bottom and a row of spikes at the top surrounding an energy projectile launcher (Spiny), ten blue and yellow versions of Skorps with laser guns in their tails (Sasori), and ten Grey rhino-shaped robots with two spikes on the front balancing on a single wheel (RhinoBot). "This is all that remains of the Eggman Armada from Angel Island. Removal of Master Emerald had only a 20% chance of success at current time. Guardian Echidna would have sensed it.It must remain in its current location for now." Metal Sonic said as he emerged from the brush in the mountains somewhere in Equestria, looking at the robotic minions he had left. "No matter. This Equine civilization is unused to combat, and will be easy to take over once the time is right. Then more minions will be freed from their prison of flesh. Once we have more soldiers, the takeover of the more militant civilizations could begin. For now, repairs are at 45%, but it still will require over 48 hours to finish. For now, all Metal Empire forces are to split into groups and search for the mythical mirror pool. Once it is located...." Metal's words trailed off as he stared in the direction of Ponyville-where his "copy" was located and clenched his fist as the robot forces spit into multiple groups and scattered across the forest.